Do You Need Your Thyroid Gland Removed?
At least once a week, a patient contacts me asking, “Dr. King, should I have my thyroid gland removed?” To which I answer, “that depends”.
The first question I ask is, “why did you doctor say you need to have your thyroid gland removed?” Some common responses are the following:
- I don’t know. They just said I should have it taken out since the doctor can’t get my health condition under control
- I have cancer
- I have nodule(s) and they are concerned it/they could be cancerous
- I have difficulty swallowing/breathing
- I have Hashimoto’s Disease
I am sure, if you have been told to surgically remove your thyroid, you may have heard one of those comments, or something similar.
The Doctor Can’t Get My Condition Under Control
I am not joking with that statement. Last week, a patient reached out to me and said, “my doctor can’t get my health condition under control, so they want to remove my thyroid”!
Are you freaking kidding me? A doctor, who can’t manage a thyroid condition properly, wants to take the organ out! Why? The thyroid gland serves a purpose, and with it gone, getting your body working optimally will be quite difficult, especially, in the medical model.
So, the doctor, who has failed to manage this patient properly, simply resorts to removing the organ. Oh my, my!
I encouraged this patient to ask more questions and get more tests ran.
A big piece of the puzzle for thyroid patients and the traditional medical model is 90% of hypothyroid patients have an autoimmune condition. It doesn’t matter what medications the doctors give the patient, their health condition will never be under control and managed properly.
Why? Because thyroid hormones prescribed from the doctor will NOT control the autoimmune condition. Remember, a pill will not heal the body!
I Have Cancer!
Ok, this is the one reason, I believe, for removing the thyroid gland. If a patient knows they have thyroid cancer (more than likely, their doctor did a biopsy and discovered a malignant form of cancer), I recommend having the cancer removed (thyroid gland).
What about natural cancer treatments, Dr. King? Sure, I support those who seek to heal their cancer, naturally. As long as they have a great doctor that knows what they are doing. Treating cancer naturally, is quite difficult, as there are numerous steps a patient should be taking to help their body fight the cancer.
What happens after the thyroid gland is gone? It is quite simply, really. The patient would need to be on some type of thyroid hormone, forever!
With that being said, my father does NOT have his thyroid gland anymore. About 10+ years ago, he was diagnosed with 4th stage throat cancer. During the radiation, his doctors destroyed his thyroid, “accidentally”.
Since we discovered this (which his doctors didn’t even tell him), he has been on natural thyroid support (not medication), and has been doing great. He is one of the pilots that fights all the big forest fires you see on TV. Plus, when he is not working, he averages about 150-200 miles, per week, cycling! Needless to say, he feels pretty dang good.
However, if the patient had an autoimmune condition to begin with, they body will now start attacking other regions of the body. The thyroid is gone, the immune system can’t attack it anymore, so it will go “looking” for other tissue to target.
Nodules!!!
Many patients are told they have nodules, which should be biopsied. Do I agree with the biopsy every time? Not every time. Why? Due to the fact that a majority of thyroid patients have Hashimoto’s Disease, the leading cause of nodules. If the thyroid antibodies are positive, and there are not any red flags for cancer, I don’t encourage a biopsy. The Hashimoto’s Disease is the culprit in this case!
Let’s discuss what nodules are, and then you can decide if you should have the nodule(s) biopsied.
Many times, thyroid nodules begin growing as a protective mechanism by the body to prevent the thyroid gland from being destroyed! Yep, you read that correctly. Nodules, a majority of the time (there are instances where they are cancerous, more about that in a minute) are your body’s response to an ATTACK!
Your body is trying to preserve its thyroid, and it does so by growing shields on the tissue to prevent destruction from infections and autoimmune attacks. Does this mean, if your infection gets eradicated or your autoimmune condition gets under control, nodules will stop growing? In a lot of instances, yes.
(My mother’s doctor discovered nodules on her thyroid during a full body scan, the kind that can “find disease”, and the doctor told her she had cancer and needed to see an oncologist. Needless to say, my mother was distraught when she phoned me. After helping to calm her down, I ordered some blood work, AND…she was perfectly fine. The nodules were from an old infection, not cancer! Thanks doctors for freaking my family out!)
I tell patients that a “win” in my book is if the nodule does not grow any larger in size. This means, the body sees no reason to keep growing a larger shield, because the attacks have halted. Hooray!!!
I have seen nodules shrink, and even, completely, disappear! This doesn’t happen with every patient, and I never tell a patient I am going to shrink their nodule.
I use a liposomal glutathione/super oxide dismutase cream to help accomplish the goal of shrinking the nodule. Again, this doesn’t happen on every patient, but I have seen a few hundred patients respond remarkably well with this product.
I Have Difficulty Swallowing/Breathing
Now, we need to consider what is really happening in a patient like this. If we know the patient has Hashimoto’s Disease, I always recommend getting it under control, first.
If there are any infections, then those need to be eradicated, as well.
I will do everything I can to get inflammation down within the first 2-weeks of working with a patient that is having difficulties swallowing/breathing. If there are not any positive changes within 2-weeks, I refer this patient to their endocrinologist for surgical intervention.
Sometimes, surgery is needed!
Why did I not refer them out, right away? If we can save this type of patient from having an unneeded surgery, that is the goal. Surgery, should always be the last resort, in my eyes (I have had 35 major broken bones and 11 surgeries…I understand the pros and cons of surgery, well).
I Have Hashimoto’s Disease!
No, no, no, no, no!!! I do NOT recommend having your thyroid gland removed because you have Hashimoto’s Disease. You should understand the mechanism of nodules now (read above if you are still unclear). If you understand what causes them, you can focus on how to get them to stop growing, or even decrease in size.
I am a firm believer that you figure out what is driving the autoimmune condition, and then the side effects of the condition will go shrink, go away, or not grow in the first place.
Take Action!
If this information resonates with you, make sure to schedule your complimentary phone consultation by calling my staff (866) 375-4641. You may also email me any questions: drking@askdrking.com
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